Traditionally, goods, especially containers, are loaded and unloaded directly by a crane grasping goods from ships, storage yard or the like and transferring them to transport vehicles, or on the contrary, grasping goods from transport vehicles and transferring them to ships, storage yard or the like. During the operation, the works between the crane and transport vehicles cannot be connected closely, and they have to wait for each other, which affects the loading and unloading efficiency.
Patent application No. US2010/0213430A1 discloses a transport vehicle, which is provided with a lifting platform on itself, with several fixed goods brackets being placed underneath a crane. The crane may place goods on the brackets temporarily and leave, and when convenient, the vehicle picks up the goods from the brackets by its lifting platform, such that it is unnecessary for the crane to wait for vehicles. On the contrary, vehicles may place temporarily goods on the brackets by the lifting platform and leave, and when convenient, the crane takes away the goods from the brackets such that it is unnecessary for the vehicles to wait for the crane. Although the solution of US2010/0213430A1 avoids the mutual wait between cranes and transport vehicles, the lifting platform provided on transport vehicle may cause that the transport vehicle is of remarkably increased weight and complicated structure, and increases the energy consumption. Besides, to achieve the objective, all existing vehicles have to be replaced, which would incur huge cost.